Update on the Windsor Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey Samuel Bonnells

Teammates,

Here is the next installment from the NJ State Archives regarding the
Middlesex County Bonnells.  This is the latest court case we have on the
Windsor Township, NJ Samuel Bonnells before the indexing runs out.  This is
a case that started in 1761 (many of them start this year, both for the
Bonnells and for Jacob Wright), but was coming to a head in 1764.  Like
George has often commented, this document generates as many questions as
answers.  This document does not specify whether it is for Samuel Bonnell,
Jr. or Samuel Bonnell, Sr., unlike many others in my pile. The signature on
the obligatory note looks more like that of the senior, but it is not clear
that this is really his signature instead of the scribe's transcription.
The document lists his profession as an innkeeper, which is different than
earlier documents that list the Bonnells as either blacksmiths or yeomen.
It is interesting that the plaintiffs are merchants from Philadelphia
demanding payment in Pennsylvania script.  Is this a clue that may lead to
the merger of the Middlesex County blacksmith Samuel Bonnell family and the
Gloucester County/Philadelphia blacksmith Samuel
Bonnell family, or is it just an indication that everyone in the area
conducted business in Philadelphia?

Still working....

John Bunnell 

The documents and transcription for Middlesex Court of Common Pleas, Case #1532 1764 - Reed & Pettit v. Samuel Bonnell are in a separate post below.

Middlesex Court of Common Pleas, Case #1532 1764 - Reed & Pettit v. Samuel Bonnell.

Courtesy of John Bonnell:

Transcription of Middlesex Court Case #1532 (1764):  Reed and Pettit vs. Bonnell

__________________________________________________________________________________

Middlesex Common Pleas

Andrew Reed & }

Charles Pettit } Alias Case

ag’st } Debt

Samuel Bonnell } £ 38.14

Stockton Att’y

Ret’ble to Janry Term 1764

Cepe Corpus in Custodia

Jas Brooks  Shf

Mileage 5/

Middlesex County lo George the third by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith.  To our Sheriff of our County of Middlesex Greeting we Comand you as We have heretofore Commanded you that you take Samuel Bonnell otherwise called Samuel Bonnell of Windsor in the County of Middlesex & Province of New Jersey Innholder if he may be found within your Bailwick & him safely keep so that you may have his Body before our Judges of our inferior Court of Comon Pleas at Perth Amboy in & for our s’d County of Middlesex on the third Tuesday in January next to answer unto Andrew Reed & Charles Pettit in a Plea that he render unto then thirty eight Pounds fourteen Shillings lawful Money of the Province of New Jersey which to them he owes & from them unjustly detains as is said and have you then there this Writ Witness James Neilson Esq’r Judge of our s’d Court at Perth Amboy af’d the eleventh Day of October in the third year of our Reign.

Stockton  Att’y Smyth   Clk  

Sam’l Bonel }

adj } Bail

And’w Reed }

& Cha’s Petit }

filed Janry 18^th 1764

New Jersey }

    lo Of the Term of January in the Year of our lord

Middlesex }    1764

Middlesex Lo Sam’l Bonnel otherwise called Samuel Bonnell of the County of Middlesex is delivered to bail upon the taking of his Body (viz) unto Charles Hartippe of the County of Middlesex Yeoman and Richard roe of the same County Yoeman at the Suit of Andrew Read and Charles petit in a plea of Debt

Taken and acknowledged this

17^th January 1764

Ja Neilson

Middlesex County } of the Term of January in the fourth year of the Reign of our Sovereign

Court of Comon Pleas } Lord King George the third King

Middlesex Js  Samuel Bonnell otherwise called Samuel Bonnell of Windsor in the County of Middlesex & province of New Jersey Inn holder was summoned to answer unto Andrew Reed & Charles Pettit in a Plea that he render unto them thirty eight Pounds fourteen Shillings lawful Money of the Province of Pennsylvania equal to thirty eight Pounds fourteen Shillings current proclamation Money of New Jersey which to them he owes & from them unjustly detains & And Whereupon the s’d Andrew Reed & Charles Pettit by Richard Stockton their Attorney say that whereas the s’d Samuel the nineteenth Day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & sixty one at Perth Amboy in the County of Middlesex af’d & within the Jurisdiction of this Court by his certain Bill obligatory which the s’d Samuel sealed bring here into Court whose Date is the same Day & year acknowledged himself to owe & promised to pay unto them the s’d Andrew Reed & Charles Pettit the just & full sum of nineteen Pounds seven Shillings like Money af’d on or before the twentieth Day of December then next ensuing the Date of the same Bill with lawful Interest for the payment thereof the s’d Samuel did bind himself his Hiers Executors Administrators & every of them in the Af’d thirty eight Pounds fourteen Shillings And the s’d Andrew & Charles in Fact say that the s’d Samuel id not on or before the twentieth Day of December af’d pay to them the s’d Andrew & Charles the s’d nineteen Pounds seven Shillings which upon the Day he ought to have paid them according to the Form & Effect the s’d Bill whereby an Action hath accrued to the s’d Andrew & Charles to demand & have of the s’d Samuel the s’d thirty eight Pounds fourteen Shillings   Nevertheless the s’d Samuel altho often required & the af’d thirty eight Pounds fourteen Shillings unto them the s’d Andrew & Charles hath not paid but the same to them as yet to pay hath altogether refused & still doth refuse to the Damage of the s’d Andrew Reed & Charels Pettit ten Pounds And thereof they bring suit

Rich’d Stockton Att’y Querentitus

Middlesex  Andrew Reed & Charles Pettit put in their Place Richard Stockton their Attorney against Samuel Bonnel  al’s dect’s & cina Plea of Debt

I Samuel Bonnell of Windsor in the County of Middlesex & Province of New Jersey Innholder do owe & prmise to pay to Andrew Reed & Charles Pettit of the City of Philad’a Merchants the just & full Sum of nineteen Pounds seven Shillings lawful Money of the Province of Pennsylvania on or before the twentieth Day of December next ensuing the Date hereof with lawful Interest to which Payment I bind my Self my Heirs Executors Admin’rs & every of them in the penal Sum of thirty eight Pounds fourteen Shillings Money af’d In Witness whereof I have how unto set my Hand & Seal the nineteenth Day of September Anno Domini one throusand seven hundred & sixty one ~

Sealed and Delivered } Sam’ll Bonnell

in the Presence of }

Middlesex Comon Pleas

Janry Term 1764

Andrew Reed & }

Charles Pettit } Decl’n

ag’st } in

Samuel Bonnell } Debt

filed 24 March 1764

Smyth  Clk

I hereby certify that on this 24 day of March 1764 I rec’d a copy of the decl’n in this cause with a copy of the rule to pleas thereon indors’d Wittness my hand

Ja’s Brooks Shf 

Update on the Kentucky/Virginia William/Samuel Bonnell family

John Bunnell scans and transcriptions of Middlesex County Court Case 2419 (1766) are posted in a separate blog post.

Teammates,

Here is the first installment of the documents from the NJ State Archives.  

First are a series of excerpts that I believe are not from the same family that we are looking at in Middlesex County.  Nonetheless, I send them first because I think we will very carefully need to untangle the two.  Both families appear to be headed by an older Samuel Bonnell and include a
younger Samuel Bonnell.  In both cases, the older Samuel Bonnell is a blacksmith, and these cases occur within fifty miles on one another.  I would like to think they merge, but it is difficult to see how this could be the case, as this would require two people to be in three different places at once in 1770 (one in the grave in Gloucester, one in debtor's prison in Middlesex County, one in Loudoun County, VA).  

My guess is that the Francis Bonnell who died in Bermuda in 1783 is the same one that had land adjacent to the Samuel Bonnell who died in Gloucester County, 1767.  The administrator of Francis' estate is a Samuel Bonnell.  Is this the son of Francis?  Or, is it the brother of Francis, son of Samuel,
looking after his brother's affairs after he went to Bermuda?  Knowing the locality of this will (not listed in the volume) would help confirm that this is from the Gloucester Bonnells.

The other action in 1783 was the payment out of the Charles Philpot Hughes estate to Samuel and Kitty Bonnell.  Looking at the entire context of the will, it seems apparent that "Kitty" was Hughes' daughter Catherine.  I assume that this Samuel was the younger of the Gloucester County/Philadelphia Bonnells due to the proximity of Northampton Township in Burlington County.  

Second, now moving back on target to Middlesex County, I've scanned the court case that resulted in the confiscation of Jacob Wright's possessions. This appears to be the trigger event for the Wright/Bonnell exodus to from New Jersey to Loudoun County, VA.  Richard Brown is the same plaintiff (one of several) the Bonnells are defending against in preceding cases.  Like I
said before, there may be a simultaneous and parallel confiscation case against the Bonnells, but it will take a manual search through the files to sort this out. The indexing for these cases runs out after 1764.

My stack of documents is generally stacked up from newest to oldest, so we'll walk backwards in time as we go through this.  As always, I'm happy to take feedback if I made any errors on the  ranscriptions. 

John Bunnell

Mr. Bunnell also sent copies of relevant book pages, from which the following excerpts are taken:

New Jersey Colonial Documents, Calendar of Wills 1781-1785 page 51
1783, Nov. 18. Bonnel, Francis, of the Island of Bermuda. Int. Adm'r–Samuel Bonnel. Fellowbondsman Franklin Davenport. Witnesses-Elizabeth Est. Mickle.
Lib. 27, p. 42

New Jersey Colonial Documents, Calendar of Wills 1771-1780 page 261

1770, April 20.  Hughes, Charles Philpot, of Northampton Township, Burlington Co.; will of. Wife, Mary Magdalen Hughes, £300. My 6 children, Maria, Philippa, Elizabeth, Catherine, Martha, Charles John and Samuel, the remaining £700 of £1,000 left to me by my uncle, John Hughes, Esq., of Brecon, South Wales. Witnesses–Samuel Stockton, William Howard, Annis Stockton. Proved May 31, 1779.

1778, May 17, Adm'x–Mary Magdalen Hughes, the widow. Fellowbondsman–John Hugg, of Gloucester Co. Charles Philpot Hughes made his will, but did not appoint any Executors. The will was made abroad, and one of the witnesses is in France, another being dead, and the other unknown.

1779, June 4. Inventory £4,950.11.10, made by Peter Shiras, Moses Kempton and William Atkinson.

1783, May 9. Account by Mary Magdalen Hughes. Adm'x of Charles Philpot Hughes, of Burlington, Co. Paid Samuel and Kitty Bonnell, their portion; also to Patty Hughes, Maria P. Hughes, and to John and Elizabeth Hugg.

Lib. 21, p. 90; Lib. 22, p. 66.

New Jersey Colonial Documents Newspaper Extracts 1767 page 353

 To Be Sold

In pursuant of the last Will and Testament of SAMUEL BONNELL, late of the City of Philadelphia, Blacksmith, deceased, a certain Tract of Land, situate in the Township of Waterford, in the County of Gloucester, in the Western Division of the Province of New-Jersey, containing 300 Acres, now in the Tenure of Benjamin Archer, with a good Frame Dwelling-house and Barn erected thereon, pleasantly situated on Cooper's Creek, and within 4 Miles of the City of Philadelphia, where Garden Truck may be raised in great Plenty, and brought to Philadelphia Market by Water; there are about 20 Acres of choice Tide Meadow, under good Bank, ad a Quantity of other Low-land Meadow on the Premises, the Upland is good and fertile, and it abounds with choice Ship Building Timber, and is otherwise well timbered and watered. Any Person inclining to purchase, may know the Title and Terms by applying to us the Subscribers in Philadelphia, SARAH BONNELL, THOMAS BONNELL, PETER THOMSON, Executors.

All Persons that have any Demands against the Estate of the said Samuel Bonnell deceased, are desired to bring in their Accounts, properly proved, to us the Subscribers; and those that stand indebted to the said Estate by Bond, Bill, Note or Book Debt, are desired to make speedy payment to Sarah Bonnell, Thomas Bonnell and Peter Thomson, Executors.

As the Subscribers intend to continue and carry on Blacksmith's Business for Shipping and House-Building, those that will be pleased to favor them with their Custom, may depend on the greatest Care and Dispatch, by their Friends, SARAH BONNELL, THOMAS BONNELL.

The Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 2000, April 23, 1767

New Jersey Colonial Documents Newspaper Extracts 1769 page 369

And on the 13th of March next, at the London Coffee House, at 6 o'clock in the evening, will be sold, by public vendue, a convenient brick messuage or tenement and lot of ground, situate on the bank of the river Delaware, between Sassafras and Vine streets, in the city of Philadelphia, now in the tenure of the widow White (being the late dwelling-house of the late Samuel Bonnell, deceased) containing in breadth on Front-street and Water-street 15 feet, and in length or depth from Front-street to Water-street, under the quitrent, or proprietary thirds of One Shilling sterling per foot per annum; and also under the ground-rent of Forty-five Shillings sterling per annum. For further particulars inquire of us the subscribers in Philadelphia, SARAH BONNELL, Executrix, THOMAS BONNELL, PETER THOMSON, Executors–The Pennsylvania Chronicle, No. 110, February 13-20, 1769.

Middlesex Court of Common Please Case 2419 (1766): Brown, Richard v. Wright, Jacob

John Bunnell transcribed the files and provided the images for this court case.

Transcription of Middlesex Court Case #2419 (1766):  Brown, Richard v. Wright, Jacob

__________________________________________________________________________________

Middlesex Pleas

Richard Brown }

V } fi. fa. debt

Jacob Wright }

July 1766

20^th day of Feby 1765

Bill How £ 12:8:4

Jut tile

Costs Faned at £

By virtue of the written writ To me Directed I have Seized and taken Divers goods and Chattels to the value of five Pounds which Remain in my hands unsold for want of Buyers

John Moore Srf.

Middlesex County

George the Third by the Grace of God of great Britain France and Ireland king Defender of the faith.  To our Sheriff of our County of Middlesex Greeting we Command you that of the Goods & Chattels of Jacob Wright Otherwise called Jacob Wright of Winsor Township In the County of Middlesex farmer, In your bailiwick you Cause to be made as well the Sum of Twenty Four Pounds Sixteen Shillings and four pence Proclamation Money which Richard Brown lately Before our Judges of our Inferior Court of Common Pleas held at Perth Amboy in and for our Said County of Middlesex Recovered Against him of Debt, As Also three pounds eight shillings and three pence ---

Money Aforesaid which to him in our Said Court before our Said Judges were Adjudged for his Damages which he hath Sustained, as well by the Occasion of the Detention of that Same Debt, as for his Costs and Charges by him About his Suit in that behalf Expended ---

Whereof the Said Jacob Wright is convicted, as to the ____ of Record, and have you those Moneys before our Said Judges of our said Inferior Court of Common Pleas to be held at Perth Amboy in and for our said County of Middlesex On the Third Tuesday in July – Next, To render the Aforesaid Richard Brown for his Debt and Damages Afd So as Aforesaid Recovered and have you then & there this writ

Witness James Nelsson Esq. Judge of our Said Court at Perth Amboy Aforesaid in the County Aforesaid the fifteenth Day of April in the Sixth year of our Reign

Pidgeon  Att Smyth  Clk

Middlesex Pleas

Richard Brown } Vend Exp

V } Ca. Sa. ft. Ressidue

Jacob Wright }

October 1766

1765 – 20^th Feby Bill

payible with Interest for £ 12:8:4

Interest Tile paid £

Costs £ 3:7:6

Addit D 0:7:6

Non Est

John Moore Sr.

The goods and chattels That Remains In my hands unsold for want of Buyers

John Moore Sr.

County of Middlesex

Fst George the third by the grace of god of Great Britain France and Ireland king Defender of the faith.  To our Sheriff of our County of Middlesex Greeting , Whereas we lately Commanded you that the Goods & Chattels of Jacob Wright otherwise Called Jacob Wright of Windsor Township In the County of Middlesex farmer, You Should Cain to be made as well the Sum of Twenty four Pounds Sixteen Schillings & four pence Proclamation Money Which Richard Brown lately before our Judges of our Inferior Court of Common Please held at Perth Amboy in & for Said County of Middlesex Recovered Against him of Debt and Also Three Pounds Seven Schillings and Six pence --- Money Afd which to him in our Said Court before our Said Judges Were Adjudged for his Damages which he hath Sustained As well by Occasion of the Detention of that Debt as for his Costs and Charges by him About his Suit in that behalf expended Where the said Jacob Wright was as to us Appear of Record, and that you Should have Those moneys before our Said Judges of our Inferior Court of Common Pleas to be held at Perth Amboy in and for our Said County of Middlesex on the Third Tuesday in July then Next, &now part, to render to the Afd Richard Brown for his Debt and Damages Afd, and you that Day Returned to us that by the Virtue of our Writt, To you Directed for that Purpose, you fed Sevyed & taken Divers Goods and Chattels of the Said Jacob Wright Is the Value of five Pounds Part of the Debt and Damages Afd which Goods and Chattels Remain in your hands unsold for want of buyers, So That you Could not have the Moneys before the Day Afd and that he had not anymore Goods and Chattels in your Bailywick Where you Could Caeere to be Levied any more of the moneys Contained in our Writt.  Therefore We Command you that you Expose to Sale the Goods & Chattels Afd of the Said Jacob Wright Taken by you In Manner Afd and have you those Moneys before our Judges of our Inferior Court of Common Pleas to be held at Perth Amboy in and for our Said County of Middlesex on the second Tuesday in October Next, To Render to the Said Richard Brown for part of his Debt and Damages Afd And Also we Command you that You take the Said Jacob Wright if he may be found within your Bailywick and him Safely keep so that you may have his Body before our said Judges of our Said Inferior Court of Common Please to be held at Perth Amboy in and for our Said County of Middlesex on the Second Tuesday in October Next to Satisfie the Said Richard Brown the Sum of Twenty Three Pounds Three Schillings and Ten Pence --- 

Prejudice of the Said Twenty eight Pounds Three Shillings and Ten pence ---

And have you then and there this writt

Witness James Nelsson Esqr Judge or our Said Court at Perth Amboy Afd in the County Afd the sixteenth Day of July in the Sixth Year of our Reign

Pidgeon  Att Smyth  Clk

Tracing the Kentucky/Virginia William/Samuel Bonnell Family through the Peter Rossell & Jacob Wright Families

Genealogy is solving mysteries, putting together puzzles and working with others. report John Bunnell reports on the progress he and his collaborators are making on one branch of the Bunnell family. 

Readers, if you have any useful information, please send it to me and I'll forward it to John. You can also add a comment and it will be immediately accessible to all readers.

Teammates,

I've already been corresponding with George Farris on this, but I'll now bring everyone else in the loop.  It appears that George's hunch that we could find the Kentucky/Virginia William/Samuel Bonnell family by tracing the related/neighbor families has paid off.  As a review, the two related families during the early Virginia years (pre-Revolution through Revolution) were the Peter Rossell family and the Jacob Wright family.  Tax lists show these families moving together from Loudon County to Spotsylvania County, William Bonnell and Jacob Wright were witnesses to a land sale for Peter Rossell, and William Bonnell was the administrator of Jacob Wright's estate (with the elder Samuel Bonnell as a second).

Recently, George was able to trace the Rossell's back to the Trenton, NJ area using established genealogical information.  Fortunately, I was able to stop by the New Jersey state archives for a very short visit in conjunction with a recent work trip.  While I only had time to scratch the surface at this facility, several things were immediately clear. 

First, a court case between Peter Rossell and Charles Rossell established the fact that Peter was living in the township of Windsor in Middlesex County in 1758-1759.  This is just to the east of Trenton.

Second, Jacob Wright, a farmer, was also a resident of Windsor Township until 1766.  Jacob Wright was in legal trouble over debts in the 1760s, climaxing in the complete confiscation of all of his possessions in October 1766. 

Third, there was a Bonnell family in the same Windsor Township from at least 1732 until at least the mid-1760s.  This family (the only Bonnell family there, as far I can tell) was headed by Samuel Bonnell, Sr. and also included a Samuel Bonnell, Jr.  At least one of these two was a blacksmith.  The Bonnells also had debt problems dating as early as 1749.  The debt cases involved both Samuel Bonnells in the mid-1760s.  In the last cases, the plaintiffs were the same as those suing Jacob Wright.

The connections here are so numerous and tight, that I think that there can now be no doubt that these are the same three families that appear in Loudoun County in 1768.  For the first time, then, we are able to place the Kentucky Bonnell line in the northeast.

The next task ahead is for me to sort through the pile of documents relating to this family that I took away from the NJ archives.  My time in the archives was so limited, I did not even have time to read most of the documents then or since.  I am extremely grateful to the staff, who rushed through making over sixty pages of copies to take with me.  I will ask for your patience in sorting through this, as my time is extremely limited due to work and family pressures now.  It will probably take months to get through all of this material.

The first objective in sorting through these documents is to untangle Samuel Bonnell, Sr. from the Samuel Bonnell, Jr.  This will help us determine which one appeared in Loudoun County and the relationship between the Samuels and William (father and brother or father and grandfather).  Once we have a clear view of Samuel, Sr., we can then try to ascertain the earliest records in this township, which may then give us a point of reference as we try to connect this eldest individual to the main Bonnell/Bunnell line.

As groundbreaking as these records are, I expect they will be insufficient to answer all of our questions.  I imagine there is much more information in the NJ Archives that I was able to quickly gather from indexes.  Also, we are now focused on such a small geographic area that there is a reasonable chance of payoff from searching count and church records, looking for the Ganno connection, etc. 

I anticipate that this will be a tremendous jigsaw puzzle, so I welcome everyone's help as we try to put these pieces together.

More to follow (bit by bit)...

John Bunnell

Passing of Lyda Gray (Bunnell) Cloud

Those of you who had been with the newsletter for several years, you probably read some of the material submitted by Lyda Graye (Bunnell) Cloud.  Charlie Bunnell informed us that she passed away January 21^st this year. 

Her obituary can be found at Lyda Gray Bunnell Cloud Memorial Page. We left a message on behalf of the blog, expressing appreciation for all the help she gave other Bonnell/Bunnells.

Lyda was born in Pryor, Oklahoma on 3 February 1930. She was the last survivor of the 12 children born to Frank and Lizzie Bunnell.

Rest in peace, Lyda.